Témoignages d'abus policiers

A young biracial man (White-Latino) was driving home in his wife's car from a corner store in Laval, a municipality north of Montreal, accompanied by his male cousin, who is Latino. They had gone to buy eggs and bread for breakfast for the man's wife and two young children. Near the man's home, he and his cousin were tailed by the police. The man parked his car in front of his home and started walking to his front door, when he was rudely called over by two police officers still in their car. He asked the police officers why they wanted to see him and not given a motive, he calmly turned around and continued walking to his home. He was about to set down his groceries so that he could unlock his door when he was violently grabbed from behind by the two officers, dragged to the police vehicle, slammed on the hood of the vehicle, handcuffed, and then punched numerous times by one of the officers. His wife, who is White, ran downstairs to see what was going on. Horrified at the sight of one of the police officers punching her husband in the face, she asked the other officer about the grounds for her husband's arrest and assault, but was given no explanation except for an alleged faulty brake light on her car. When her husband cried out in pain and in fear, the officers threatened to taser him. The two officers then drove away with the young man, releasing him a couple of blocks away.

The officers then returned to the man's home and engaged with the wife, using rude language and still refusing to say why they arrested and assaulted her husband. They then gave her a ticket for faulty break lights and two tickets for her husband, with fines for using foul language against the police (while he was being assaulted without cause) and for driving without a license. The man's wife later checked her brake lights, which were, in fact, fully functional.

The man walked home in physical pain and psychologically shaken, and had to go to a medical clinic for treatment. The couple lives in a social housing complex, near an area known for criminal activity. The couple's two young children, aged 2 and 5, witnessed the incident and are now terrified of police officers. To this day, the couple does not know why he was arrested and violently beaten in front of his home.

Dossiers:

In a case of Any Negro Will Do (a term to refer to the police practice of arresting a Black person based on a vague racialized suspect description), a young Black man was arrested in broad daylight in downtown Montreal by the police, while going shopping with a friend, and charged with theft. He was identified by police officers as the young Black man who had robbed someone downtown four months earlier; he protested, claiming total innocence and a case of mistaken identity. Not only was he charged, brought to the police station where he was detained for almost five hours, required to provide fingerprints and have a mugshot taken, but he was also banned from a wide area of downtown until his court date, which would be four weeks from the arrest. This sweeping police practice effectively aims to make downtown a “Black-free zone” (CRARR has documented numerous cases involving this practice). When his hearing took place, the charge was withdrawn by the Crown for a simple reason: the police got the wrong youth.

Ville où l'événement s'est produit:

Dossiers:

Corp policier (SPVM, SQ, GRC, agent de la STM, etc):

An English-speaking man who looks much younger than his age, Mr. V., then in his 50s, was on his way home from work when the incident occurred. He arrived at Lionel Groulx metro station close to midnight and was hurrying to catch his bus when he heard a voice mumble something in French. Mr. V., whose French is limited, did not realize that he had been addressed by an inspector of the Montreal Transit Authority (MTA), so he kept walking. He was then grabbed by the inspector and, within seconds, six other inspectors arrived and pushed him violently to a corner in the station. Although he displayed no resistance, the inspectors violently arrested Mr. V., handcuffed him, and dragged him into a closed room without informing him of the reason for his arrest.

The inspectors searched him and his bag. Despite finding his proof of payment, the inspectors continued questioning Mr. V. Afterwards, they slipped a $324 ticket (for obstructing an inspector’s work) into his coat pocket and led him into a public area where they uncuffed him. In a state of shock, Mr. V. asked the inspectors for an explanation; they grabbed him by the collar and forced him up the escalator towards the exit, threatening to give him another ticket if he did not leave. When he tried to ask again for an explanation, they threw him out of the station. It took Mr. V. almost half an hour to recover from the assault before he was able to take the bus home. Once he arrived at home, Mr. V. broke down. He was unable to sleep or go to work the next day.

Dossiers:

Ville où l'événement s'est produit:

When I was arrested at Occupy Montreal on the 25th of November 2011 They were taking my information. They wrote on my hand with a permanent marker and then after I felt something pointy and metallic scraping across my skin. I immediately asked "What are you doing" and they simply said we wrote on you with a pen and showed me a bunch of various pens in her hand. I didn't argue about it and I was unable to look at my hands as they were tied behind my back with zipties. As soon as I was released I looked at my hands and there was no ink on them from a pen. I began to worry and wonder what exactly did they do to me that prompted them to lie to me... it really was not a fun feeling. when I spoke about what happened a few hours later to a friend and my partner, the idea came about that perhaps it was something they used as a way to identify me. This morning we tested my hands under a black light and sure enough there was a number 2! The freaky thing is this is IN my skin, washing my hands and scrubbing with abrasives will not get this off.... perhaps in several months of my skin cells renewing themselves if will eventually fade. What ever ink that is in there is irritating my skin slightly and its a very terrible feeling that they put a substance in my body with out my consent and then later lied about it. This is a semi permanent alteration they did to me, if I go anywhere now with a black light this will show! -------------------- I called the SPVM today and after being on hold for over 10 minutes I explained what happened to me to the officer on the line. I was calm and explained I was concerned for my health because I was having a reaction to whatever it was they used... He told me he had no idea what I was talking about, that he never heard of that before ... I asked if it was possible to speak to some one who might know more and he said that there was no one ... he then said he needed to answer the other line and hung up ...... WTF

Corp policier (SPVM, SQ, GRC, agent de la STM, etc):

Ville où l'événement s'est produit:

A police intervention in Montreal on Wednesday night around 11pm the 7th of September 2011. Around 8 cars and 30 cops that will arrest 3 guys, hit some of them, pepper spay a guy and push a girl really hard on a post.